Indictments in Hampshire County murder case

ROMNEY, W.Va. — The Hampshire County grand jury handed up murder indictments this week in connection with a death of a Slanesville man.

Hampshire County Prosecutor Dan James said Mandy O’Hara, 36, and John Shoemaker, 22, of Capon Bridge, were named in a four-count indictment. The pair allegedly murdered O’Hara’s husband Michael O’Hara last September. The O’Haras were separated at the time.

O’Hara and Shoemaker were indicted on charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, burglary and concealment of a dead body.

Michael O’Hara’s body was found wrapped in a blue tarp in the Cacapon River on Sept. 26, 2013. Police said at the time a resident was driving on Hickory Corner Road when he saw Mandy O’Hara and Shoemaker in a car dragging a body that had come untied from the back of the car. He initially confronted them, they drove away and he drove to an area where he could call police.

Investigators believe while the witness was gone, O’Hara and Shoemaker returned to the area and retied the body to the back of the vehicle and dragged it more than three miles to the river.

Police also charged Shoemaker’s girlfriend Gabriella Clutter, 21, of Capon Bridge with conspiracy. She has not been indicted.

O’Hara and Shoemaker remain in jail without bail. Their arraignments are set for May 14 in Hampshire County Circuit Court.